We know one church whose membership included several chartered accountants. Not surprisingly, they were all placed on the church finance committee. But after the church went through the study Experiencing God, the entire committee resigned. They announced, “The church asked us to serve on the finance committee because our training is in finance. But we have been trained to take a conservative approach to budgeting. Our education has predisposed us to avoid walking by faith. Yet God says without faith, it is impossible to please him.” The committee suggested that rather than only enlisting accountants to serve on the finance committee, the church should should primarily find people who knew how to walk by faith. -God in the Market Place, pg 208

The problem with teaching like this, however, is that it leads to churches pretending like they are exempt from market forces. This leads to churches overextending themselves financially, taking on massive amounts of debt because they feel like God is leading them to grow bigger and bigger.

But, as an atheist friend of mine once asked, “What happens to the faith of congregation when the financial windfall they were expecting to help them cover their bases never materializes?